At that time Jehovah said to Joshua, Make thee stone-knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
Israel has just crossed the Jordan and the enemy kings are terrified — the perfect moment to strike. Instead God calls for a knife: why circumcise "a second time," why now, and what does that have to do with taking a land?
The command is fixed to a precise hour in the story.
Now notice what follows. When all the kings of the Amorites and the Canaanites heard that the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the children of Israel, their heart melted, and there was no spirit left in them because of the children of Israel. "At that time" — note the words! when terror had paralysed every nation at the very thought of this people — "At that time the LORD said to Joshua, 'Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.'"
By any human calculation this was the worst possible order.
Joshua had to make flint knives to circumcise the men of Israel (vv. 3-4). This went completely against military strategy. It would leave them very weak if the enemy attacked. But God was able to keep the enemy in check, and His word is most vital if we are to see any results for Him.
The rite was not new. Israel had let it lapse.
They had neglected this rite of such deep meaning. God gave no command to circumcise during the thirty-eight years of wandering. The rite was suspended; it may have been a punishment for their unbelief. But now all is changed. They are in the land. Israel was about to keep the Passover, the great memorial feast. The uncircumcised could not eat the Passover. The reproach of Egypt was rolled away, and the place was called Gilgal, which means "rolling."
The mark went back to Egypt, but the wilderness generation never wore it.
Israel as a nation were circumcised in Egypt; there they had the token of God's covenant on them. But Israel wandering in the wilderness were an uncircumcised people. In Israel's unbelief we may find the reason why they were unable to bear on themselves the token of being Jehovah's nation. Unbelief in God's word of grace and true separation to God cannot exist together in the souls of men.
The order matters: God kept His word first, and only then made His claim.
"By the way" — that is, in the wilderness, the doubting, the testing period of Israel's history — God made no call upon them for circumcision. But now He had fulfilled His word before their eyes. They themselves were the witnesses of His faithfulness. They had entered the land of promise, and "at that time" He at once required it of them. The grace God had shown them, and the favour into which He had brought them, changed His way of acting toward them.
Before Israel could use a sword on the enemy, God required a knife on themselves.
Whatever is offensive must now be judged. Nature had had free rein in the wilderness, but in the land they must use the knife. A nation that holds nothing in check and puts nothing to death cannot fight the battles of the Lord. It would be like Satan trying to cast out Satan. Knowing our sins are forgiven is not, by itself, what fits us to fight against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Christians can now enter into the spiritual meaning of circumcision.
The letter to the Colossians shows that this rite pictures two things: the judgment of the body of the flesh in the death of Christ, and the believer's own practical putting to death of the flesh (Col. 2:11; Col. 3:5). Not only has God dealt with the believer's sins, but, at the cross, God has dealt with the old man that produced the sins.
Yet the work is not something we perform on ourselves by effort.
Never forget that we are circumcised in Christ, not in our own strength. The work is entirely spiritual, for it is "made without hands." It is a divine work, in contrast with everything human.
Gilgal, where this happened, does not stay behind once the fighting starts.
Gilgal was the place of circumcision. It was the starting point for the army of Jehovah before they had won a single victory. It was also the gathering place after victory (Joshua 10:15), and again the starting point for fresh conquests. The judgment of the flesh never changed. The people had to keep applying it to themselves. Otherwise the flesh would work to regain what it had lost, and a first victory would never lead to a second.
- Grace first. God opened the Jordan before He asked for the knife. His favour came first, and His claim followed.
- Knife before sword. A people who never judge themselves cannot fight God's battles. Forgiveness alone does not fit you for the fight.
- Second time, not new. Unbelief cost one generation the sign of the covenant. Entering the land restored what the wilderness years had let lapse.
- Made without hands. Christ's death cut off the flesh — a divine work, not self-improvement.
- Return to Gilgal. Victory does not end the lesson. The flesh takes back whatever you stop judging, so the starting point is also the place to return to.
And Joshua made him stone-knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of Araloth.
Israel had just crossed the Jordan into Canaan. Their first act in the land was not a battle but a wound. Joshua cut with flint knives, and a whole generation received the sign of the covenant for the first time. The question this raises is why God asks for weakness at the exact moment strength seems most needed.
The command came at the one moment when Israel looked unstoppable. One writer stops on the words "at that time."
Now notice what follows. All the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the Jordan in front of Israel until they had crossed over. Their courage melted. They had no spirit left in them because of the people of Israel. "At that time" — note those words! Every nation around was frozen with terror at the very thought of this people. And it was at that time that the Lord said to Joshua: make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.
Obeying meant weakening his own army inside enemy land.
God told Joshua to make flint knives and circumcise the men of Israel (verses 3-4). This went straight against military strategy. It would leave them weak if the enemy attacked. But God could hold the enemy back, and His word matters most if anything is to be gained for Him.
The sign had lapsed for almost forty years.
The rite of such deep meaning had been neglected. No doubt they had plenty of excuses for that during the wilderness journey. God gave no command to circumcise during the thirty-eight years of wandering. The rite was put on hold, and that may have been a punishment for their unbelief. But now everything has changed. They are in the land.
Another writer traces the lapse back to Israel refusing to trust God's promise about the land.
Israel's unbelief may be the reason they were unfit to carry on their bodies the sign that they were the Lord's nation. In one heart, unbelief in God's word of grace and real separation to God cannot live side by side.
The knife was aimed at Israel, not at Canaan.
In the wilderness, nature had free rein. In the land the knife must be used. A nation that holds nothing in check cannot fight the Lord's battles. It would be like Satan trying to cast out Satan. Knowing our sins are forgiven is not by itself what fits us to fight spiritual wickedness in high places.
Notice what Joshua is not handed yet. The commander of the Lord's army with a drawn sword appears only later in the chapter.
Joshua did not see a sword in the hand of the commander of the Lord's army until every Israelite first held the knife to deal with himself. The call to circumcision had done its work before they were morally fit to use the sword against others.
Israel did not do this to themselves. Joshua did it to them.
Notice too: there is no thought here of us trying to finish off ourselves, or of stripping ourselves. The "putting off" was done at the cross. God condemned sin in the flesh there. Faith takes hold of that fact. It becomes real in practice as the conscience owns and accepts that judgment.
The place was named Gilgal. Israel had to keep coming back to it.
Gilgal, the place of self-judgment, is the place of practical divine power. We find even victories dangerous unless we return to the judgment of the flesh. After preaching the gospel (the most blessed work that can be), we must go back to Gilgal. Israel began well at Jericho: what were the high walls to faith? The higher the walls, the worse the ruin when they come down. But instead of returning to Gilgal, they get self-confident and send up a few to take Ai. But there we get failure.
(Some older translations say "sharp knives." The ESV's "flint knives" means the same tool.)
- Timing. God called for the knife at the very moment Canaan's kings lost their nerve. The hour of greatest advantage became the hour of chosen weakness.
- Obedience. Joshua weakened his own fighting men on enemy soil. Being right before God mattered more than military sense.
- Neglect. A whole generation carried no sign of the covenant. One writer ties that silence to the unbelief that kept them wandering.
- Order. The knife came before the sword — Israel had to be dealt with before Israel could deal with Canaan.
- Return. Gilgal was named for what happened there, and later victories held only while Israel kept returning to it.